Part I Chapter 06

[Tristram]

Dear Pickwickians,

this week we are only dealing with one single chapter, which is called „Sleary’s Horsemanship“ and which tells us more about the fate of Sissy Jupe as well as about the characters of Mr. Gradgrind and his friend Bounderby.

When those two practical gentlemen accompany Sissy to the Pegasus’s Arms, where Mr. Jupe and the other carneys lodge, the girl immediately goes upstairs to fetch her father. Very soon, however, she finds out that neither her father nor his dog Merrylegs are in, and, before Gradgrind and Bounderby can detain her, she darts outside to see whether her father is at the Booth. Immediately afterwards, two other members of the company enter, one Mr. E.W.B. Childers and his sidekick, a squat man by the name of Kidderminster, who, although he normally acts as a Cupid, has a rather gruff voice. When Mr. Bounderby tries to bully those two men, they react in a very hostile way, e.g. like this:

”‘You see, my friend,’ Mr. Bounderby put in, ‘we are the kind of people who know the value of time, and you are the kind of people who don’t know the value of time.’
‘I have not,’ retorted Mr. Childers, after surveying him from head to foot, ‘the honour of knowing you,—but if you mean that you can make more money of your time than I can of mine, I should judge from your appearance, that you are about right.’
‘And when you have made it, you can keep it too, I should think,’ said Cupid.”

Or like this:

”‘Nine oils, Merrylegs, missing tips, garters, banners, and Ponging, eh!’ ejaculated Bounderby, with his laugh of laughs. ‘Queer sort of company, too, for a man who has raised himself!’
‘Lower yourself, then,’ retorted Cupid. ‘Oh Lord! if you’ve raised yourself so high as all that comes to, let yourself down a bit.’”

While I certainly enjoyed seeing Mr. Bounderby taken down a peg or two, I could not help wondering that he hardly resists the fresh replies he is given by the two men, and that made me come to the conclusion that, after all, Mr. Bounderby might not be half as tough as he makes himself out to be but that he is some kind of all-hat-and-no-cattle type of person who will knuckle under headwind. It was also quite funny to see how difficult it was for Gradgind and Bounderby to understand the theatrical jargon used by Childers and Kidderminster, and how annoyed they are with it.

Childers tells the two men that since Sissy’s father is no longer good at his performances, he has decided to make off and that by having his daughter enter Mr. Gradgrind’s school Mr. Jupe has thought to have provided for her. This information is taken up by Mr. Bounderby as an opportunity to rail against parents like Mr. Jupe and to denigrate his own mother especially for having left him behind with his gin-addicted grandmother, but he is aptly put down by Mr. Childers again.

By and by, the other members of the company have arrived, and with them their leader, Mr.Sleary, and the narrator expresses his sympathy for them in the following lines:

”Yet there was a remarkable gentleness and childishness about these people, a special inaptitude for any kind of sharp practice, and an untiring readiness to help and pity one another, deserving often of as much respect, and always of as much generous construction, as the every-day virtues of any class of people in the world.“

Mr. Gradgrind, who – as we may remember – was actually determined to tell Mr. Jupe that his daughter could no longer attend his school because of the unwholesome influence she is – in his eyes, and those of his friend Bounderby – exerting over the other pupils, now seems to waver in his decision, which can be seen as a sign that, in his heart of hearts, he is not all that bad. He confers on this point with Mr. Bounderby, who advises him to stick to his initial purpose, and in the end, the schoolmaster prevails – under the condition that Sissy will never have anything to do with her old friends any more. Mr. Bounderby finally also agrees to have Sissy Jupe stay at his own home, but when he begins to tell the young girl, who has returned without having found her father meanwhile, in a very blunt manner that her father has deserted her, he incurs the ill-will of everyone around so that even Mr. Sleary has to warn him that his quick-tempered friends are very close to throwing him out of the window.

Sissy is finally convinced to leave her old life behind but she still insists on keeping the bottle of nine oils in case her father might come back one day. Not really remembering the plot anymore, I am asking myself as keenly as she if that will ever happen.

All in all, I must say that I found it rather unrealistic that Mr. Jupe would leave his daughter behind just because he is apparently growing too old for his job. After all, he could not know for sure whether his daughter would be kept at the school and whether there would be somebody to put her up. How do you see it?

[Peter]

Tristram

As you note, Mr Jupe does leave his daughter. This is a major crisis and does raise many questions. Does he truly intend to return? While we are told by Dickens that Jupe feels himself growing old, is this the true, or the only reason for his departure? The original reading public, like us, must have wanted to peek at what happens next. They could not; we can. But, of course, we won't.

It is good to see Bounderby taken down a peg by Chiders and Kidderminster. In the verbal battle of the pompous bully versus the circus crowd I'd score the round a victory for the circus. Somehow though I feel Bounderby will be back again next round.

We have noted in the previous chapters how Dickens, once again, has created not only a unique world of characters but given them representative names as well. Chiders is great. He chids Bounderby's bluster. Kidderminster... hmmm ... caring for children?

Two names that I do think are clever are Sissy's name and The Pegasus Arms, the name of the public house where Sissy lives. Sissy is a nickname for Cecelia. Saint Cecelia was the patron saint of music. Music would be present in the circus, and is certainly a very creative art, thus the name reinforces the creativity of Sissy, and, sadly, acts as a symbolic reason why she would be seen as in need of reform by Gradgrind.


Pegasus was the name of a mythical horse whose hoof, should it strike a person, gave that person poetic inspiration. Poetry, another of the great creative arts, would find no place in the curriculum of the school in Coketown.

Mr. Chiders is described as looking like a Centaur. A Centaur is a half-human, half-horse being. Horses, from Bitzer's dictionary definition to this point in the novel, seem to be a motif to follow to demonstrate the differing worlds of the imagination and the world of facts.

[Everyman]

I would love to post actively every week, but frankly I can't find much of anything worth saying about this chapter.

Except, of course, pure speculation: do you think this will be a good thing or a bad thing for Sissy?

And applauding when Childers gives it to Bounderby.

[Kim]

Here is an illustration by Harry French for this installment:



"'This Is a Very Obtrusive Lad!' Said Mr. Gradgrind"

Part I, Chapter 6

Harry French

Commentary:

"Plate No. 4, depicting the meeting of Gradgrind, Bounderby, Childers, and Kidderminster at the Pegasus's Arms, visually integrates these disparate plot-lines, following up on Gradgrind's dragging his children away from the circus in Plate 3. Thematically, the plate connects the made-up, theatrical world of the circus performers with the false front of The Bully of Humility, the supposedly "self-made man" Bounderby. (The circus lingo in which Childers and Kidderminster express their mutual contempt for Bounderby Dickens borrowed from his friend Mark Lemon, editor of Punch.)

We might expect Dickens, something of a Capitalist himself by 1854 as a major stakeholder in the weekly magazine Household Words, to side with Bounderby and Gradgrind. However, since the theatre was always in his blood, it should come as no surprise that he sides instead with Childers, who sees through Bounderby's imposture. The dwarf Kidderminster's artifice as Cupid (for he is no child at all) is harmless entertainment for the masses; in contrast, Bounderby's puffery about his ditch-water origins is part of his technique for enslaving his workers, keeping their demands in line with his spartan childhood. Both antagonists in the argument are motivated by pecuniary considerations, of course."

[Kim]

Here is an illustration by Charles S. Reinhart, which appeared in American Household Edition, 1870.



"Father Must Have Gone Down to the Booth, Sir"

Part I, Chapter 6

C.S. Reinhart

Commentary:

"With Bounderby and Gradgrind, we have followed Sissy Jupe up the dimly-lit, narrow staircase to her room in The Pegasus's Arms, but Signor Jupe is out. Beside Sissy on the floor is the open trunk which has produced the look of "terror" on her face and the anguished gesture. Above the bed hangs a peculiar object which reference to the text reveals to be Signor Jupe's "white night-cap, embellished with two peacock's feathers and a pugtail bolt upright" (Ch. 6) which he uses in performance and apparently in real life.

Bounderby, the Bully of Humility, has his back towards us, so that his only salient feature is his unkempt hair. Gradgrind's misshapen, bald skull (reminiscent of the skulls of the precursors of homo erectus), bristling eyebrows, and hooked nose impart a bird-like quality in plate 3 and there is, as yet, no softening sign of compassion for the girl whose father has abandoned her in this public-house rented room exhibiting the minimum essentials of three chairs and a bed. Positioned strategically between the adults on the left and the child on the right is the "battered and mangy old hair trunk" which once contained a portion of the clown's wardrobe. He has abandoned it, too, and is travelling light, so that the empty trunk becomes an objective correlative for Sissy herself."

[Kim]

And here is an illustration by Sol Eytinge. It was done for Dickens's Hard Times in the single volume Barnaby Rudge and Hard Times in the Ticknor & Fields (Boston, 1867) Diamond Edition.



"The Horse-Riding Party"

Part I, Chapter 6

Sol Eytinge

Commentary:

"In his study of the three principal "horse-riders," Eytinge has synthesised two different textual descriptions in chapter 6, "Sleary's Horsemanship," in that he depicts the asthmatic Sleary, the circus-master, with his two star performers, E. W. B. Childers and the diminutive Master Kidderminster, the circus company's Cupid in its equestrian performances, both unfortunately (to match the facing page) in civilian clothing at the Pegasus's Arms, rather than in their more picturesque professional attire.

[Kim]

And from Kyd we have Mr. Sleary:

[Everyman]

Kim wrote: "Here is an illustration by Harry French for this installment:."

Is it my imagination, or does the boy have two little tufts of hair that look just like a baby devil's horns??

[Everyman]

Kim wrote: "Here is an illustration by Harry French for this installment:."

I know her father has just run away, but still, I don't see Sissy as the hand wringing type.

[Peter]

Kim wrote: "Here is an illustration by Harry French for this installment:

"'This Is a Very Obtrusive Lad!' Said Mr. Gradgrind"

Part I, Chapter 6

Harry French

Commentary:

"Plate No. 4, depicting the meetin..."

Bounderby certainly likes to package and present himself as the self-made man. There seems to be a lot of talk. It makes you wonder whether he walks the talk, or as Tristram said in his Western movie persona, is he a man with a hat but no horse (or something like that)

[Vanessa]

Tristram wrote: "All in all, I must say that I found it rather unrealistic that Mr. Jupe would leave his daughter behind just because he is apparently growing too old for his job... "

I felt the same, Tristram, considering that Jupe doted on her, and they were "never asunder". It would have been heart-wrenching, with only a chance she would be better off. Perhaps he expected that, if she couldn't stay at school, Sleary at least would apprentice her, as he offers to -- though late at her age. (This leaves me wondering how old she is.)

I'm also curious about how she might affect Louisa, and vice versa.

[Vanessa]

Peter wrote: "Two names that I do think are clever are Sissy's name and The Pegasus Arms, the name of the public house where Sissy lives..."

I found the Pegasus's Arms clever in a comic way, since the creature has neither arms nor weapons, but wings. I didn't know that about the poetic powers (wings aren't enough? :). Thanks for that. Lots of mythology, so far.

[Vanessa]

A funny but sad detail I enjoyed was the description of Sleary's daughter Josephine, who "made a will at 12, which she always carried about with her, expressive of her dying desire to be drawn to the grave by the two piebald ponies." A reminder of how dangerous the circus life was.

[Everyman]

Vanessa wrote: "A reminder of how dangerous the circus life was. ."

Indeed of how fragile life was for everybody at that time, but especially for children.

[Tristram]

Thank you, Kim, for once again looking for illustrations and posting them here! One thing that struck me as odd was that Cupid/Kidderminster really looks like a child in most of the pictures. When I read the text, I had the idea that he was actually an adult. He is introduced as a "diminutive boy with an old face" but a couple of lines later it is said that in private his voice became gruff and his whole person "turfy". That's why I thought that Mr. Kidderminster must be an adult, just like Ninetta Crummles, the "Infant Phenomenon" we got to know in Nicholas Nickleby, whose age is difficult to determine, too. One further aspect that made me think along those lines was the brash behaviour of Cupid. Would it have been conceivable in Victorian times that a child would use such language to an adult as Kidderminster does to Bounderby?

[Kim]

Tristram wrote: "Thank you, Kim, for once again looking for illustrations and posting them here! One thing that struck me as odd was that Cupid/Kidderminster really looks like a child in most of the pictures. When ..."

I went back and looked at the illustrations, for although I go and get them I seldom study them, and you are right he does look like a child to me and I'm sure he is supposed to be an adult.

[Kate]

Peter wrote: "Tristram

As you note, Mr Jupe does leave his daughter. This is a major crisis and does raise many questions. Does he truly intend to return? While we are told by Dickens that Jupe feels himself gr..."

Hmmm, Kidderminster, hey?! This is the name of a town in England, although, it's not in what we call the north of England. It's in the Midlands, close to the city of Birmingham. Anyway, I just had look at pictures of Kidderminster (as I've never been there) and surprise, surprise, there are old red buildings, some look like factories, and by a canal too. I wonder if this is Dickens' Coketown?

[Peter]

Kate wrote: "Peter wrote: "Tristram

As you note, Mr Jupe does leave his daughter. This is a major crisis and does raise many questions. Does he truly intend to return? While we are told by Dickens that Jupe fe..."

Kate wrote: "Peter wrote: "Tristram

As you note, Mr Jupe does leave his daughter. This is a major crisis and does raise many questions. Does he truly intend to return? While we are told by Dickens that Jupe fe..."

What a name for a town. Birmingham was certainly a major player in the industrial revolution. Thanks for the insight.

[Kim]

I also had a look at Kidderminster after you said it was a town Kate. When I first saw the word I thought it must be German, it looks like one of those words that Tristram just takes two or three other words and puts them together into one, then when I googled Kidderminster one of the first things I saw was this:

"The town is twinned with Husum, Germany and it forms the majority of the Wyre Forest Conurbation, an urban area of 99,000."

So then I thought, of course it would be twinned with one in Germany although I have no idea what that means, so I googled Husum, Germany and got this:

"Husum is twinned with:

Kidderminster, England
Trzcianka, Poland
Heiligenstadt, Germany
Gentofte, Denmark"

I still don't know what it is and now I'm wondering if our town is twinned with anything. :-)

[Lagullande]

Kim wrote: "So then I thought, of course it would be twinned with one in Germany ..."

The town of Dull in Perthshire, Scotland is twinned with the town of Boring in Oregon.

Apparently, the town of Bland near Sydney, Australia also wants in.

(This is all true, if you believe what you read in the papers.)

[Peter]

Lagullande wrote: "Kim wrote: "So then I thought, of course it would be twinned with one in Germany ..."

The town of Dull in Perthshire, Scotland is twinned with the town of Boring in Oregon.

Apparently, the town ..."

Great twinnings!

I live in Victoria, British Columbia. There is a town called Prince Albert in Saskatchewan. Perhaps we should not twin, but marry.

[Tristram]

Here is a brief account of the concept of twin towns:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_to...

I don't know where I read it but somewhere it said that Dickens got his idea of Coketown from the industrial town Preston. Maybe I can find the source for this later.

[Mary Lou]

I foolishly thought that being in the middle of a blizzard, I'd have time to catch up on my reading. Silly me. Instead I've been outside shoveling for two days, and seemingly getting nowhere. But I finally read this chapter and your comments. My impression of Kidderminster is that he's a little person, aka a midget. The description of the French illustration calls him a dwarf, though he looks like a child in the picture. Whatever he is, I enjoyed his exchange with Bounderby and Gradgrind.

I regret that it appears we've seen the last of Merrylegs with no further hint as to his ancestry.

I'm intrigued by the prospect of Louisa and Sissy's future relationship - will they be friends and sisters? Rivals? Will Sissy be held accountable for Louisa's inevitable uprising? And how will poor Sissy adjust to a life of facts after living with a circus all her life?

[Everyman]

Mary Lou wrote: "I'm intrigued by the prospect of Louisa and Sissy's future relationship - will they be friends and sisters? Rivals? Will Sissy be held accountable for Louisa's inevitable uprising? And how will poor Sissy adjust to a life of facts after living with a circus all her life? "

Great set of questions! They'll keep us reading eagerly on.

[Hilary]

Hi Tristram, I thought that the 'Arms' in 'Pegasus's Arms' referred to the family 'Coat of Arms,' though I'm not entirely sure of this. 'Arms' is quite a common nomenclature for inns and hotels, in England and Ireland at least.

In general, there seems to be a lot of to-ing and fro-ing in this chapter. It all seems a bit frenetic and even a tad surreal. Sissy's dad is there and then he's gone. I wonder if he will return or even if that would be a good thing. It feels as though she's somehow swapping her surreal mess of a home to ensconce herself in an unrealistically ordered 'home'. I suppose, though, that she doesn't have much choice in the matter.

[Kate]

Peter wrote: "Kate wrote: "Peter wrote: "Tristram

As you note, Mr Jupe does leave his daughter. This is a major crisis and does raise many questions. Does he truly intend to return? While we are told by Dickens..."

And the city of Bradford (where I was born) and the city of Leeds (where I was brought up) were both huge in the Industrial Revolution too. We still have lots of buildings that are now museums. I spend my school exclusion going from one to the other.

Also, look up Saltaire. It's a town that was constructed by the mill owner, for his employees. He was one of only a few, who actually looked after their workers. Saltaire is now world heritage listed. Unfortunately it was hit by the recent floods. I'm not sure what the damage is.

[Kate]

Kim wrote: "I also had a look at Kidderminster after you said it was a town Kate. When I first saw the word I thought it must be German, it looks like one of those words that Tristram just takes two or three o..."

Fantastic Kim.

You might also be interested to know that Kidderminster was, supposedly, the model for one of Hardy's fictitious towns in Jude the Obscure.

[Kate]

Lagullande wrote: "Kim wrote: "So then I thought, of course it would be twinned with one in Germany ..."

The town of Dull in Perthshire, Scotland is twinned with the town of Boring in Oregon.

Apparently, the town ..."

Living in Sydney, I had to look 'Bland' up. It's in the outback, which over here is very very Bland indeed, so no wonder about the name.

It would make sense for the to be twinned though.

[Peter]

Kate wrote: "Lagullande wrote: "Kim wrote: "So then I thought, of course it would be twinned with one in Germany ..."

The town of Dull in Perthshire, Scotland is twinned with the town of Boring in Oregon.

Ap..."

Kate

Thanks for all the bits and pieces of geography. I've made notes in my copy of HT.

[Tristram]

Hilary wrote: "Hi Tristram, I thought that the 'Arms' in 'Pegasus's Arms' referred to the family 'Coat of Arms,' though I'm not entirely sure of this. 'Arms' is quite a common nomenclature for inns and hotels, in England and Ireland at least."

I really love English inn names. When I stayed one year in Hartlepool, there was a place called the Hope and Anchor, which I somehow always got wrong as The Ham and Egg. Only after one or two Guiness would I be able to pronounce the name correctly.

[Hilary]

Haha that's so funny, Tristram. I can just picture the scene. :-)

[Kate]

Peter wrote: "Kate wrote: "Lagullande wrote: "Kim wrote: "So then I thought, of course it would be twinned with one in Germany ..."

The town of Dull in Perthshire, Scotland is twinned with the town of Boring in..."

Your welcome, Peter.

[Linda]

I didn't have much to comment on after reading this chapter so I'm just now checking in, but boy there are a lot of comments to catch up on!

I didn't quite believe that Sissy's father would up and leave her permanently, so I am suspicious that he is never to come back.

But what I'm more worried about is Merrylegs. I hope he somehow makes his way to live with Sissy, not only for her sake as a friend from her old home, but also for our sake in learning what kind of dog he is. Plus, just seeing the name "Merrylegs" in print makes me smile. :)

Peter - I enjoyed reading your interpretations of the names of Sissy, Pegasus Arms, and Mr. Chiders.

I was confused what a twin city was, until I realized it was the same thing as a sister city, which is the term that I am used to. The suburb that I grew up in was a sister city with Ikawa Japan, but apparently Ikawa merged with five surrounding cities to form Miyoshi, and the sister city affiliation continues, although now it is shared with The Dalles, Oregon because one of their sister cities also merged to form Miyoshi.

Tristram, I love the name change to The Ham and Egg. :) It reminds me of one of my favorite road names that we pass when we go to visit my in-laws. The name of the road is called Egg and I Road.

[Tristram]

Linda,

we really had a good time at the Ham and Egg when I was in Hartlepool. What I liked especially where the quiz nights, something that I did not know from German pubs, but something I did not want to miss after I had been taken to a quiz night the first time. I learned a lot about British popular culture from some of the questions.

[Linda]

Oh, I love quiz nights! Unfortunately I haven't had many opportunities to participate in them.

[Kim]

Linda wrote: "Tristram, I love the name change to The Ham and Egg. :) It reminds me of one of my favorite road names that we pass when we go to visit my in-laws."

It reminds me of that Dr. Seuss book.

Green Eggs and Ham

[Kim]

Kate wrote: "You might also be interested to know that Kidderminster was, supposedly, the model for one of Hardy's fictitious towns in Jude the Obscure."

I hope the town isn't as depressing as the book was.

[Kim]

Tristram wrote: "I don't know where I read it but somewhere it said that Dickens got his idea of Coketown from the industrial town Preston..."

Sorry, I forgot to look this up until now:

"Preston is a city and the administrative centre of Lancashire, England. In the Middle Ages, Preston was a parish and township in the hundred of Amounderness and was granted a Guild Merchant charter in 1179, giving it the status of a market town. Textiles have been produced since the mid-13th century when locally produced wool was woven in people's houses. Flemish weavers who settled in the area in the 14th century helped develop the industry. In the early-18th century, Edmund Calamy described Preston as "a pretty town with an abundance of gentry in it, commonly called Proud Preston". Sir Richard Arkwright, inventor of the spinning frame, was born in the town. The most rapid period of growth and development coincided with the industrialization and expansion of textile manufacturing. Preston was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution, becoming a densely populated engineering center, with large industrial plants. The town's textile sector fell into terminal decline from the mid-20th century and Preston has subsequently faced similar challenges to other post-industrial northern towns, including deindustrialization, economic deprivation and housing issues.

The 19th century saw a transformation in Preston from a small market town to a much larger industrial one, as the innovations of the latter half of the previous century such as Richard Arkwright's water frame (invented in Preston) brought cotton mills to many northern English towns. With industrialization came examples of both oppression and enlightenment.

The town's forward-looking spirit is typified by it being the first English town outside London to be lit by gas. The Preston Gas Company was established in 1815 by, amongst others, a Catholic priest: Rev. Joseph "Daddy" Dunn of the Society of Jesus.

The more oppressive side of industrialization was seen during the Preston Strike of 1842 on Saturday 13 August 1842, when a group of cotton workers demonstrated against the poor conditions in the town's mills. The Riot Act was read and armed troops corralled the demonstrators in front of the Corn Exchange on Lune Street. Shots were fired and four of the demonstrators were killed. A commemorative sculpture now stands on the spot (although the soldiers and demonstrators represented are facing the wrong way). In the 1850s, Karl Marx visited Preston and later described the town as "the next St Petersburg". Charles Dickens visited Preston in January 1854 during a strike by cotton workers that had by that stage lasted for 23 weeks. This was part of his research for the novel Hard Times in which the town of "Coketown" is based on the city of Preston.

Fishergate and the Town Hall clock tower in about 1904
The Preston Temperance Society, led by Joseph Livesey pioneered the Temperance Movement in the 19th century. Indeed, the term teetotalism is believed to have been coined at one of its meetings. The website of the University of Central Lancashire library has a great deal of information on Joseph Livesey and the Temperance Movement in Preston.

Preston was one of only a few industrial towns in Lancashire to have a functioning corporation (local council) in 1835 (its charter dating to 1685), and was reformed as a municipal borough by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. It became the County Borough of Preston under the Local Government Act 1888. In 1974, county boroughs were abolished, and it became part of the larger part of the new non-metropolitan district, the Borough of Preston, which also included Fulwood Urban District and much of Preston Rural District. The borough acquired city status in 2002."

[Peter]

Great information Kim. Thanks!

[Tristram]

Thanks, Kim! The photo seems to give a good specimen of the red-brick-architecture Dickens claims to be typical of Coketown. I have never been in Preston but just treated myself to a virtual visit via Google Maps and I found some more of those red-brick buildings. They show the town on a very sunny day, so it's not anywhere near the grimness I associate with Coketown, but you can still get the idea.

[Kim]

Tristram wrote: "Thanks, Kim! The photo seems to give a good specimen of the red-brick-architecture Dickens claims to be typical of Coketown. I have never been in Preston but just treated myself to a virtual visit ..."

Good idea, I think I'll go take a look.

[Kate]

Kim wrote: "Kate wrote: "You might also be interested to know that Kidderminster was, supposedly, the model for one of Hardy's fictitious towns in Jude the Obscure."

I hope the town isn't as depressing as the..."

I've never been Kim, so no idea.

[Kate]

Kim wrote: "Tristram wrote: "I don't know where I read it but somewhere it said that Dickens got his idea of Coketown from the industrial town Preston..."

Sorry, I forgot to look this up until now:

"Preston ..."

Preston - no wonder it's so grim, it's on the wrong side of the Pennines. If you're wondering what I'm going on about, think the war of the roses. I'm from the other camp. ;)

[Hilary]

Brilliant, Kate! You obviously have a bit of a North and South of Ireland thing going on there!
Lovely photo of Preston though, Kim. I'll side with you, however, Kate. It's well known that this is the ONLY tree and the rest is brick, black smoke and boredom. ;-)

[Peter]

Hilary wrote: "Brilliant, Kate! You obviously have a bit of a North and South of Ireland thing going on there!
Lovely photo of Preston though, Kim. I'll side with you, however, Kate. It's well known that this is ..."

Hilary

"... brick, black smoke and boredom." That is a great summary comment and one I'm going to write down. Thanks!

[Hilary]

Peter,
Oh my word, you really are much too kind. Thank YOU. :-)

[Kate]

Hilary wrote: "Brilliant, Kate! You obviously have a bit of a North and South of Ireland thing going on there!
Lovely photo of Preston though, Kim. I'll side with you, however, Kate. It's well known that this is ..."

LOL. Sure is.

[Kim]

Poor Preston, I've already stuck up for the town or city of Blackpool, now here is poor Preston:



Former parish church of St Thomas, St Thomas's Place, Preston, Lancashire



Arkwright House, Preston Sir Richard Arkwright (1732-1792). Lived here in 1768 while he developed cotton spinning machines. Its present use is as an office for Age Concern



London Road Bridge over the River Ribble This bridge carries the A6 London Road over the River Ribble at Walton-le-Dale. As the name of the road suggests, it was once the main road to London from Preston. It is close to the place at which the Battle of Preston was fought in the English Civil War of August 1648: Oliver Cromwell's army won an important victory over the Royalists. The building to the right of the bridge is the Bridge Inn.



Bridge on the Lancaster canal



The Unicorn



St. John's Minster

[Hilary]

Yes, i do like the path and the barge :-)

[Peter]

Thank you for the pictures. It gives us such a great feel and perspective.